# HDD or SSD?



## vraiblonde

It's time to replace my laptop.  It's 7 years old and starting to get wonky.  I'm stuck in indecision because A) I hate setting up a new laptop; and B) I'm torn as to what to get.

I'm not that person who needs the biggest and bestest.  I just need a reliable machine that will do its job efficiently.  A couple weeks ago I didn't even know SSD existed - David told me about it (he's the person who likes the biggest and bestest).  So I read up on it a bit and there are conflicting opinions.  Those who are into new stuff and toys insist that SSD is the way to go; regular users say that HDD is more reliable in the long run.

Opinions?


----------



## PeoplesElbow

An SDD will make any laptop seem 3x faster.  It is especially important in laptops because their HDDs are made for low power so they spin slower than desktop HDDs and therefore transfer data even slower.  

SDDs will also cut your power consumption significantly and therefore give you longer battery life.  

I bought a $700 laptop a couple years ago and replaced the HDD myself with an SDD, the boot up time went from 30 seconds to well under 10, the time to launch Microsoft Office went way down as well.


----------



## GWguy

If you had asked this a few years back, I would have told you to stay with HDD.  SSD had reliability issues more than HDD, and when they failed, they failed fast and hard.  No recovery.  HDDs have a chance of being recovered.

More recently, SSD reliability meets or exceeds HDD reliability.  I had one in one of my laptops, but that was the one that got stolen, so can't give you a reliability testimony.  My current laptop is HDD, Western Digital 500Gb, and has been incredibly reliable, 5 years old now.

It's a coin toss.


----------



## stgislander

I have to say I prefer the speed of the SSD.  I don't think the reliability issue with SSD is as big a concern now as it was when they first hit the market.


----------



## GURPS

SSD are main stream my last job, they were coming in all of the business class laptops


----------



## Yooper

SSD. Hands down.

However, they can be finicky. Especially if you're moving your system from an HDD to an SSD (and not starting with a new install or new laptop). For example, hibernate and/or standby often won't work (or works infrequently). I have one machine where the Hib works but SB doesn't, while on another it's the opposite. And on a third, all good.

Crucial and Samsung (I've had excellent experiences with both) both offer utilities with their SSDs to help.

Bottom line, if the cloning is done correctly, you should be good to go.

--- End of line (MCP)


----------



## stgislander

Yooper said:


> SSD. Hands down.
> 
> However, they can be finicky. Especially if you're moving your system from an HDD to an SSD (and not starting with a new install or new laptop). For example, hibernate and/or standby often won't work (or works infrequently). I have one machine where the Hib works but SB doesn't, while on another it's the opposite. And on a third, all good.
> 
> Crucial and Samsung (I've had excellent experiences with both) both offer utilities with their SSDs to help.
> 
> Bottom line, if the cloning is done correctly, you should be good to go.
> 
> --- End of line (MCP)


Crucial is the only after-market memory I use in my company and personal PCs.


----------



## GURPS

Crucial Balistix in my last 3 builds


----------



## PeoplesElbow

All my SDDs and RAM are Crucial as well, never had a failure with any of their stuff.


----------



## GURPS

Yooper said:


> However, they can be finicky. Especially if you're moving your system from an HDD to an SSD (and not starting with a new install or new laptop). For example, hibernate and/or standby often won't work (or works infrequently).




Clean install ftw


----------



## McCheese

I have my OS installed on SSD and really works faster compared to HDDs


----------



## GURPS

McCheese said:


> I have my OS installed on SSD and really works faster compared to HDDs



My last build 2x 256 gn NVMe SSD's - Samsung Evo 950s in a striped set .... boot times were measure in seconds from POST to Surfing Reddit.

A few tweaks / software installs Windows Updates later Boot times are still bloody fast ... just not as fast.


----------



## Clem72

stgislander said:


> Crucial is the only after-market memory I use in my company and personal PCs.



Crucial is the US distributor for Micron, they're not really after market as they make their own chips and are the third largest after Samsung and Hynix.  Unless you meant after market as in didn't come with your PC.


----------



## vraiblonde

Good grief - you wouldn't believe what I went through to finally find the right laptop.  I'll spare you the details, but it was really annoying.

What I ended up with was a Dell Inspiron with 256G SSD, 8G RAM, an optical drive, and Intel i7.   Finding a laptop with an optical drive was a ridiculous challenge, but I have super old versions of software (Photoshop, Office, etc) that are obsolete and cannot be downloaded, and I don't want to rip them to flash, nor do I want to purchase new software.  Nor do I want to store everything on the "cloud", but thanks for the nerd tip, Staples guy. 

It will be here Tuesday and I hope I like it.  I'm dreading loading software and transferring my files.  But the good news is that all the old crap that I no longer need but have been too lazy to clean out will be out of my life, as will remnants of downloaded software mistakes and other bric a brac.  

I hate new stuff, I really do.  I want my old stuff to stay in working order.


----------



## GWguy

Too late now, but did you consider getter a laptop without an optical,, and purchase a USB optical?  I've been doing that for almost 10 years.  When I need to read a disk, I plug in the drive, when I'm done, it goes back in the bag.  Makes your laptop choices much better.


----------



## stgislander

Is the 8G RAM expandable?


----------



## GURPS

stgislander said:


> Is the 8G RAM expandable?




8 gb  ...  my VIDEO Card has 8gb


----------



## stgislander

GURPS said:


> 8 gb  ...  my VIDEO Card has 8gb


You can never have enough RAM.


----------



## GWguy

stgislander said:


> You can never have enough RAM.


TWSS


----------



## GURPS

stgislander said:


> You can never have enough RAM.




32 gb ... my system supports 64 gb

I never touch the paging file anymore


----------



## stgislander

GURPS said:


> 32 gb ... my system supports 64 gb
> 
> I never touch the paging file anymore
> 
> View attachment 136864


What are/were you doing at the time?


----------



## GWguy

stgislander said:


> What are/were you doing at the time?


pron


----------



## stgislander

GWguy said:


> pron


Pron???   Oh, porn!!!


----------



## GURPS

stgislander said:


> What are/were you doing at the time?





Chrome, Edge, and Firefox ..... 
Discord
RDP Connection to my Seed Box 

Bethesda, Uplay, Steam Clients Running





GWguy said:


> pron



Roberta Pedon - I do that on my laptop


----------



## vraiblonde

GWguy said:


> Too late now, but did you consider getter a laptop without an optical,, and purchase a USB optical?



That was going to be the way until I found the laptop I just bought.  

8G RAM is expandable to....I think 64G.  But I don't care about that.  I don't play games or run a bunch of simultaneous programs, and don't need the power.


----------



## GURPS

vraiblonde said:


> But I don't care about that. I don't play games or run a bunch of simultaneous programs,




 



Chrome with more than 2 tabs open


----------



## vraiblonde

GURPS said:


> Chrome with more than 2 tabs open



I don't do that, either.  I am a methodical computer operator - one task at a time.  Finish it, then move on.


----------

